Asheville Today

OCTOBER 01, 2007

Fred M. Eckel, RPh, MS, Pharmacy Times Editor-in-Chief

October 2007

When the Asheville Project launched in 1997, it involved just 47 patients. The idea was simple?
yet bold for its time. The City of Asheville, NC, in partnership with the pharmacy department
at Mission Hospitals, wanted to find out whether a proactive, collaborative, and patient-centered
approach to diabetes management might result in healthier employees and lower health care
costs.

Now, 10 years later, I think everyone would agree: the experiment worked. Asheville-based models
have been deployed by 80 employers in 14 states, and interest in the initiative continues to
grow. The project has expanded beyond diabetes to include other chronic diseases such as asthma
and hypertension, as well as a broad range of prevention and employee wellness programs.

We at Pharmacy Times are pleased to have the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals in presenting
Asheville Today. In this supplement, we explore the reasons why this innovative collaboration has
taken hold, looking at it through the eyes of its founders and stakeholders?community and hospital-
based pharmacists, physicians, health educators, policymakers, employers, and patients.

We show how the Asheville pioneers tapped local expertise and brought everyone on board. We
demonstrate how this approach can be adapted to the needs and resources of any community and
highlight the pivotal role hospital pharmacy plays in that process. We offer advice on the training
components necessary for pharmacists to assume their roles as health care coaches at the hub
of disease management programs. We also hear testimonials from patients themselves, who credit
the project with turning their lives around.

A decade after its inception, the Asheville model is now well established. Its success and replication
nationwide attest to the crucial role pharmacists play as agents of change and leaders in the
delivery of quality, cost-effective patient care services.